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Subject: A further reason for traditional Navigation - GPS interference
From: Aubrey O'Callaghan (ocallaghan@XXX.XXX)
Date: Sun Jan 05 2003 - 13:58:05 EST
I came across an article today about GPS interference.
Another reason that traditional navigation paper charts, plotting DR
positions etc. are important.
Earlier we had some discussion of the US Navy going to solely electronic
charts, what if the GPS puts one in the wrong position, where does DR get
cross checked with electronic position ?
Will the US Navy ban watching television while underway ? ! :-)
Aubrey.
"FAULTY GPS? CHECK THE TV AERIAL! THE next time a ship runs onto the
Tricolor wreck it may worth checking whether anybody was watching
television at the time. US Coast Guard is warning that certain marine
television antennas may interfere with the performance of Global
Positioning System receivers. It says: "The interference can result in
inaccurate position information or a complete loss of GPS signals. This is
a potential hazard to navigation, for both the operator of the vessel with
the television antenna and for nearby boaters as the interference is not
limited to the GPS equipment onboard the vessel with the antenna. In some
cases, vessels up to 2,000 feet away from an active antenna have reported
interference."
The Federal Communications Commission identified the following models of
antennas as having potential problems during investigations of GPS
interference: TDP (Tandy Distribution Products) Electronics - MINI STATE
Electronic Amplified UHF/VHF TV Antenna - Models 5MS740, 5MS750, 5MS921
Radio Shack Corporation - Long Range Amplified Omni Directional TV Antenna
- Model 15-1624 Shakespeare Corporation - SeaWatch - Models 2040 (Code date
02A00), 2050 (Code date 03A00). "
I
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